1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for creating an image exposure of the heart of an examination subject with an imaging medical examination apparatus, in particular a magnetic resonance apparatus, wherein the image exposure requires a preparation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Often a preparation is necessary in order to generate heart image exposures should of a human or animal examination subject. For example, for what is known the “dark blood” technique, the signal of blood is suppressed and the surrounding tissue can be better detected, such that the heart muscle is better visible in the image representations. For this purpose, for example, preparation pulses for preparation of the actual measurement occurring in the end diastole are applied directly after the R-spike, which the highest positive amplitude of the electrocardiogram.
If the image data acquisition should occur in the end-diastolic phase, the person in charge of the image data acquisition (for example a medical-technical assistant, a doctor or a physician) must undertake a manual parameterization so that the image data are acquired at the desired time. The experience of the user is thereby decisive for the image quality since various possibilities for errors exist. For example, the measurement can be initiated at a point in time at which (given a slice acquisition) the prepared slice is not located in the same position as in the initial preparation, or the data acquisition can be initiated at a point in time at which the previously-saturated blood has already recovered again.
Such errors lead to limitations of the image quality, such that the acquired measurement possibly may not be usable and a repeat acquisition is required. Additional stresses thereby occur for the patient, for example if the image data acquisition must occur with a breath-hold or if breathing commands must be observed. The idle period in an examination apparatus (such as a scanner in magnetic resonance tomography) is extended and the system thus is blocked longer, with the result that subsequent examinations can be delayed. Errors due to an incorrect manual parameterization also cannot be completely precluded even when the operator (such as the technical assistants or doctors) I well-trained, such that the image quality is subject to significant fluctuations dependent on the person who happens to be the operator and anomalies in the patient and measurements must frequently be repeated.